Sometimes it takes only one man to bring about change. And sometimes that man is called Anna Hazare.
The man who has led one of the largest mass movements in recent years has the rare distinction of having a name which when read for the first time elicits the response, “Who is she?”
Our country and its systems have been plagued by corruption for decades and all this while we’ve been treating it exactly like we treat Tushhar Kapoor, something terrible that you know is there but you refuse to look at it hoping that it’ll go away on its own.
Everyone hated corruption but no one knew what to do about it, until Anna Hazare showed the way. He stated that the first step in the fight against corruption will be the implementation of the Jan Lokpal Bill (it literally means Citizens Ombudsman Bill, which literally means you have to look up Ombudsman in the dictionary) and so began one of the most extraordinary fusses ever made over a bill. Usually things like these are settled in 10 seconds by going dutch.
After getting no response from the government over the proposed bill, Anna Hazare began a fast on the 5th of April at Jantar Mantar, Delhi, stating that he would call it off only when the government looked at the Bill or he dies, whichever comes first.
Anna Hazare knew that his movement would create a stir, what he didn’t know was that it would also bring the whole India together again just like they had been brought together in their disapproval of Sreesanth’s selection in the World Cup final. People connected with him and listened to what he had to say because of his simple message, his clean image and because the IPL had not started yet.
As he began his first day without food, people were humbled with the spectacle of a man who looked strikingly like their grandfather, sitting obstinately asking the government for much needed change. His message and his medium touched a chord and it started an avalanche of support. Twitter was abuzz with Anna Hazare tweets. In total 4.4 million tweets were made in the span of three days out of which the first 2 million were, “Who is she?”
The ‘India Against Corruption’ movement (Slogan: Whatcha Gonna Do When Anna Comes For You?) was generating a media presence not seen since Rakhi Sawant. It suddenly grew from an act of defiance to a full fledged revolt. All of a sudden people began liking Anna Hazare pages on facebook and status’s like, ‘AnNa V r WiD U’ were scribbled across a million virtual walls. This was a movement that a new generation was a part and promoter off. No one really knew what the Jan Lokpal Bill was all about, in fact in a poll taking regarding the bill, it was revealed that 72% people thought that 'Jan Lokpal' was where Sonia Gandhi stays. And no one really had the time to actually go out and do things like fasting but it seemed alright as long as they were actively tweeting about it.
The government waited patiently, hoping that at any moment Anna Hazare would throw away the protest and give in to a plate of samosa’s, but that was not to be and finally fearing to have the death of a 72 year old, who had suddenly become a nation’s hero, on their hands, the government conceded their position and decided to start the process to finalize the Bill. Anna Hazare broke his fast after 96 long hours and thus successfully showed the people of India that anything was possible as long as you knew how to blackmail the government well enough.
Seeing the success of the movement many millions got inspired by Hazare’s modus operandi. Suddenly people began threatening to fast for every small thing. There were student fasts against exams, there were fasts against protests without fasts, in fact, my mother began fasting against weight gain. It worked too.
The movement and its leader gave a young vapid but socially connected India a noble cause to uphold, one which was more meaningful than wanting to buy a BlackBerry. For a generation looking for something to define their era, Anna Hazare provided the perfect opportunity. And people were quick to hoist the Gandhi of their times on the walls of their Facebook pages and scribble his name in the many 140 character- sentences of a modern history. And am sure Anna Hazare will have a nation’s complete support whenever he chooses to fight for a cause next and hopefully it will be a movement against Tushar Kapoor.
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